Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair has been declared as an authorized Immigration Check post for entry into/exit from India with valid travel documents for all classes of passengers.

This decision of the Union Government will open up the Port Blair Airport for direct international flight and immigration facilities.

For this purpose, the Superintendent of Police (CID), Andaman and Nicobar Police has been appointed as the ‘Civil Authority’ for the purpose of the immigration check post.

Efforts are being made for the early operation of international flights from the Airport and extending facilities of e-visa and visa on arrival.

Source: AIR News

5. National Health Authority gets Cabinet nod

The Union Cabinet has cleared the constitution of a National Health Authority (NHA) through an executive order, thus taking the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) out of the ambit of the Ministry of Health.

Now, the ministry’s role will be limited to acting as the nodal ministry for NHA in parliamentary matters, like the presentation of annual reports.

Earlier, all funds released by the National Health Agency, which is implementing the PM-JAY, were done through the Ministry of Health.

The NHA’s governing board will be chaired by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, while its members will include NITI Aayog CEO and NHA CEO.

Under the aegis of the governing board, the CEO will have complete administrative control of the NHA.

Source: Indian Express

International Affairs

6. Qatar will cease to be a member of OPEC

Qatar will cease to be a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC).

The country had sent an official notification to the OPEC expressing its wish to pull out and to focus on its liquefied natural gas production in December.

The decision came amid the ongoing diplomatic and economic blockade imposed on the country by its Persian Gulf neighbours and several Arab states.

These countries accuse Doha of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Qatar has strongly refuted these allegations.

Note:

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organisation of 14 nations, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), and headquartered since 1965 in Vienna, Austria.

Source: AIR news

National Appointment

7. Govt appoints Hemant Bhargava interim chairman of LIC

The Union government has appointed Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC) senior-most Managing Director (MD) Hemant Bhargava as the interim chairman.

He replaced V K Sharma who retired on 31st Dec 2018.

The government has also initiated a process to select the regular chairman and managing director of LIC.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian state-owned insurance group and investment company headquartered in Mumbai.

Note:

The Life Insurance Corporation of India was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the private insurance industry in India.

LIC's slogan ‘Yogakshemam Vahaamyaham’ is in Sanskrit which loosely translates into English as "Your welfare is our responsibility".

Banking & Finance

The Union cabinet has approved the merger of Vijaya Bank & Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda.

The merger will be effective from April 2019.

The decision was in a bid to create a stronger and sustainable global-sized lender.

After the merger, Bank of Baroda will become the third biggest public sector bank, behind State Bank of India and HDFC Bank (in terms of assets).

Note:

The boards of public lenders Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank has approved swap ratio for the proposed merger of the two PSU banks.

According to Dena Bank, its shareholders will receive 110 equity shares of Bank of Baroda of face value Rs 2 for every 1,000 shares they held.

Vijaya Bank shareholders will get 402 equity shares of Bank of Baroda for every 1,000 shares they held.

Source: The Economic Times

9. RBI forms expert panel to suggest measures for MSMEs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will set up an expert committee under former Sebi chairman U K Sinha to suggest long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.

The eight-member committee will also examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector, the RBI said in a statement.

The expert committee will submit its report by the end of June 2019.

The panel will review the current institutional framework in place to support the MSME sector and study the impact of the recent economic reforms on the sector and "identify the structural problems affecting its growth".

They have also been asked to propose measures for leveraging technology in accelerating the growth of the sector and suggest long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.